


Silent Night

by Okumen



Category: Ginyuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe | Meine Liebe
Genre: (minor; set in Europe ca 1932), Community: fandomweekly, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, POV Abuser, Period-Typical Racism, can be either canon divergent or canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okumen/pseuds/Okumen
Summary: "You want me to leave," he says, and Henriette looks at him. She never made it any secret that she wanted him, too, out, just like she managed to send his younger sister away.
Collections: FandomWeekly (2019-2021) Writing Challenge on Dreamwidth





	Silent Night

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fandom Weeklys 83rd prompt, Below Zero.
> 
> POV of emotional abuser talking to her child abuse victim who very much knows why he's hated. Most of the abuse is in an internal monologue here.

Henriette hears the boy approach. She knows it's him; his footsteps are light in a way different from her daughters. She ignores his presence until she can't ignore it any longer. She tries a while, but when he clears his throat she looks up at him, the constant proof of her husbands infidelity. He stands right in front of her, a fourteen-year-old boy with his hands at his sides and his green eyes turned on her.

"You want me to leave," he says, and Henriette looks at him. She never made it any secret that she wanted him, too, out, just like she managed to send his younger sister away. She had been less successful with the boy. All because her husband needed a _male_ heir. All because he couldn't allow any husband of their daughters to inherit. Because of that, she had to have this little dark-skinned creature around every day, so different from their other children. Henriette hated it. To think that she was so inadequate that her husband had to take in the product of his illicit affair.

She wouldn't have minded as much if her husband had supported those two children from a distance, but to take them into their home without even giving her any warning... She hated it. Every time she thought of it, her insides raged against the collected demeanour a Marchioness must display, much like the blizzard outside raged against the walls of the manor walls concealing hurtful lies, half-secrets and further scandal. A flash of grief passes over the boys face, and Henriette resents the hurt she sees. He has no right to feel hurt; he's the invader of her home, the one taking liberties and the one whose existence has sullied the Braunschweig name. He has no right.

"You want me to leave," he repeats, his voice calm but hiding what she is sure is disdain for her and her family. She knows that he must look down on them, see himself as their equal or better simply because he was awarded something he didn't earn or have any right to. "So I'll leave."

Henriette is taken aback. She didn't expect him to say such a thing. Initially, she stares at him in shock, but then her eyes narrow in suspicion. He is up to something. She simply doesn't know what that is. The sly child. "Do you expect me to believe that? Even if you leave for a while, I'm sure you will return."

"We lived on the street between mum dying and father finding us. I know how to manage on my own without needing to return." The boy closes his eyes for a few moments, and it's a relief to not have to face those hateful green orbs filled with emotion. Until he once more opens them, locked on her, and he continues. "In return, I just want to know where my little sister is. Not-" He falters, for a brief second. "Not right now, I understand that you don't trust me to keep my word. But when you're certain I won't return, or when there would be no point in me returning, either way. If it's after one of my elder sisters have gotten married to someone that can inherit the title, or after one of them can take over."

Henriette is silent, watching the boy. He seems sincere, but he needled his way into her husbands good graces in the first place, so she has no reason to trust him at all. But if the title has been turned over to a son-in-law, or there is an uncontestable will in place naming such a man the heir, the boy would have no possibility to win in court, even if he claimed right as her husbands only son. He is, in the end, illegitimate, while their daughters are not. And if he would stay away until he had that girls location, then Henriette could ensure he stayed away for a very long time. She could possibly put it in her own will, so that it would be dealt with only after she passed away, and didn't have to suffer to see it. "My second condition," the boy says, a tone in his voice too mature for his age. It makes Henriette unnerved. Of course he has a second condition.

"I know you love my sisters. I want you to ensure their happiness. That they don't marry terrible men, and that if they do, that you help them get out of it. Divorce may sully the family name, but not so much as a bastard inheriting, I'm guessing. So long as they're safe and happy, that's all that matters."

Henriette agrees, all she wants is for her daughters to have what they are owed; a future and happiness. She nods, eventually, the boys green gaze bearing down on her from underneath mussed auburn bangs. "Very well," she says. "You have half an hour to get out of my home." Another flash of raw emotion flash over the boys face, but then he nods, calmly.

.

.

.

The storm has calmed down somewhat, only freezing the skin, rather than threatening to tear the flesh off, when the butler lets a girl inside. Henriette hears her smooth voice, another one too mature for her age. "Fräulein Wolfenbüttel," Henriette greets the young heiress, as she dismisses the servant. "He's out at the moment. As there is no use in waiting, you would do better to return home."

Young Augusta frowns and crosses her arms. "Ed's out. In _this_ weather?" She eyes Henriette with more suspicion than any little girl should be capable of. "Fine. I'll go look for him myself. Thank you for your time, Markgräfin Braunschweig." The girl turns sharply on her heel, and she shoves the door open before a servant can assist her. Henriette sees the girls horse and how she swings herself up to sit across its back like a man, and Henriette hopes she won't find him.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
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